Tipperary splash the cash to support county sides

Tipperary haven’t ruled out hitting the €25,000 a week spent on preparing their county teams three years ago.

Then county chairman Sean Nugent revealed the figure in late July of that season when they still had six inter-county teams in their respective competitions.

As things stand, Tipperary have five sides alive — senior hurlers, footballers, U21 hurlers, minor footballers and hurlers — having seen their U21 footballers reach the All-Ireland final in May.

The county accrued a deficit of close to €250,000 in 2012, their fifth annual loss in succession, but have since made a number of cost-cutting measures, slashing just over €1 million in expenditure in 2013, as well as introducing fundraising initiatives.

County secretary Tim Floyd acknowledged competing at different levels in both codes is costly but believes the demands on finances aren’t as taxing as before.

“It’s not a major strain but we won’t see it until the expenses start rolling in. We’ve been lucky this year, we’ve a new sponsorship deal and our gates are up by a reasonable level and we’ve a couple of good fundraisers. Between all the teams, the senior teams would be the big ones financially, of course. The minors wouldn’t cost much.

“There has been a lot of investment in our footballers over the years and we have a good development system in place. We would spend as much money on football as hurling.”

Floyd hopes Tipperary’s 2014 club fixture headache, which saw the county football final replay played on St Stephen’s Day, won’t be repeated this year.

The senior hurlers’ provincial success means there should be some space to stage one or two rounds of championship fixtures.

“We should have an opportunity to play some rounds. Our one big concern is dual clubs and we have five or six of them and the fixtures for them cause problems later on. We’ve four or five rounds of the hurling championship played. Unfortunately, our system demands a lot of rounds and the divisional championships that lead into the county. It’s a complicated system.

Tipperary last year changed their mind on the calendar season and now believe it would be nigh on impossible for dual counties.

“It’s impractical. Our suggestion would be that you would complete the (All-Ireland) club games in January rather than dragging them onto March. As it stands, we’re finding it very difficult to fit them into the year.

With Steven O’Brien all but ruled out of action, it’s Colin O’Riordan and Kevin O’Halloran who face two games in the space of three days, the U21 hurlers’ Munster semi-final against Limerick followed by the senior footballers’ qualifier against Tyrone.

Saturday:

All-Ireland SFC, Round 3B: Tipperary v Tyrone, Semple Stadium, 3pm; Galway v Derry, Pearse Stadium, 5pm.

Saturday, July 25:

All-Ireland SFC championship, Round 4A: Kildare v Cork/Kerry, neutral venue; Fermanagh v Westmeath, Kingspan Breffni Park, 5pm.